In 2005 Columban Fr Oliver McCrossan founded the 'Pedalling to Live' programme in the southern Filipino city of Ozamis. Since then over 100 tricycle drivers have become the proud owners of their own tricycles by paying off an interest free loan approximately $700.00 AUD/NZD to buy the tricycle. Being the owner of a tricycle eliminates money lost through having to rent a tricycle from a middleman. Transporting passengers from their homes to markets, schools, church and offices is the principle source of income for tricycle drivers and their families.
The Coordinator of this programme, Virgenia O. Vidal, shares with us the story of Brian Buhawi, a tricycle driver from Ozamis City.
Brian Buhawi is a young married man with two children. He was born in 1984. When Brian was nine years old, his mother died and he was forced to go to work in the construction industry in a different city. Brian’s childhood was very difficult for him. At an early age, it meant living in a different city away from relatives and doing dangerous work on construction sites for large buildings.
At the age of 27 Brian was assigned by the construction company to Ozamis City, where he earned an average of $7.00 per day. Brian was now married and had two children to support. It was dangerous work so Brian took another job in a hardware store where he only earned an average of $4.00 per day.
On $4.00 per day, Brian had to pay rent for the small room his family rented in an overcrowded slum area on the edge of the city as well as for food, schooling, heath care, clothing and other necessary items. Rent alone cost the family $25.00 monthly. To cover the minimal costs of the family, Brian needed to earn at least $6 per day.
The slum areas where a poor family like Brian’s rents accommodation are prone to sudden fires that can start from open cooking fires or poorly installed electricity. These fires can sweep through the whole slum area in minutes wiping out families and their few possessions. During the annual typhoon season, the precarious nature of the buildings also makes them particularly vulnerable to the strong winds, rain and flooding.
These slum areas also have a high incidence of drug trafficking, being a great concern to parents raising children there. Snatching incidents are also an increasingly serious problem, as valuables such as bags, purses, wallets, watches, food and clothing items can be snatched from one’s hands by passers-by or persons on motor bikes. In seconds, they disappear out of sight.
In order to help make ends meet, Brian applied to become a tricycle driver in 2012, renting a tricycle from a middle man. Now Brian could earn up to $10.00 per day, working from early in the morning until around 8:00pm in the evening. A high proportion of this amount, however, had to go to pay for the rent of the tricycle.
It was only in March 2016, after four years driving a rented tricycle that Brian applied to the Pedalling to Live Programme and was accepted. A tricycle cost $700.00 to buy. Brian is now paying $1.70 per day towards owning his own tricycle. He also pays 60 cents daily into a saving account in a local cooperative. 
Once Brian has paid off his loan, he will be eligible to become the beneficiary of one of the new 'green' homes, which the Pedalling to Live programme also offers. These low cost ecological homes are built out of local materials such as clay, rice straw and husks. They are built in safe areas away from drug and crime ridden areas. They are surrounded by small parcels of land on which the families can grow some of their own food.
Brian says of his life as a tricycle driver.
“My life being a tricycle driver is not easy but it is much better than being so desperate that I would have had to become a ‘snatcher’ or else beg for food. I now feed my family from my own sweat. Starting early in the morning, I wake up and go to pick up some regular passengers and bring them to their destinations.
I have been held up by drug addicts and my entire daily income has been taken by these boys. I gave them all my money otherwise they would have killed me. And I went home without a single cent for my family. Despite that set back, I will not stop driving because I have dreams for my children and I am working so hard to become the owner of my own tricycle. In this way, I will be able to provide a lot better for my family and also be eligible for a new low cost ‘green’ house.”
The Pedalling to Live programme has made an enormous difference to my life and that of my family”.
Virgenia O. Vidal is the coordinator of the 'Pedalling to Live' programme.